Do you stop to visit friends mid-run?

 Gotta run!

 Picture this. You’re running along outdoors, clocking your miles, when you see a friend or neighbor, beckoning you to come near. Or maybe you encounter someone you know on the trail. Do you run on past him or her, or do you stop to visit for a few minutes? 

For me, it depends on several factors. Here’s a dozen possible considerations, on-the-fly. (I'm just being honest here.) Maybe you can think of more questions you’d ask yourself right about then.

• Am I trying to beat incoming weather?
• Am I sneaking in a run during a scheduling crunch?
• Am I meaning to contact this person anyway?
• Am I just starting my run?
• Am I overdue for a deadline?
• Am I pretty sure this person will want an extended conversation?
• Am I nearly done with this run?
• Am I struggling with this run for some reason?
• Am I eager to connect with this person?
• Am I clocking an important training run?
• Am I gearing up for a tough race?
• Am I running to keep up with my training buddies?

 I guess the point is that there’s no hard-and-fast rule that a runner has to stop and chat, when a simple hand-wave can suffice for now. It’s always possible to follow up later with a call or a text or a social-networking message.

 

If you do stop to socialize, do you pause your activity tracker?

I wish I’d remember to pause and restart my Garmin, every time this happens. (It’s especially tricky in colder weather, when we tend to wear several layers of sleeves, along with mittens or gloves.)

 

To jabber or to jog? It’s always a judgment call.

Maybe sometimes it’s important to pause and enjoy the journey, greeting a friend along the way. But sometimes we just have to send a wave and keep on going.

 

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Why do runners crowd the road shoulder?

 Beep-beep! Road runners (Nope, not the feathered kind.) dash and dart along city streets, county roads, rural highways, and other thoroughfares. We pound the pavement, logging training miles for marathons and more. Frequently, that means we endure honking (and other signals) from motorists, as they roar past us. 

 

For safety reasons, pedestrians (including runners) are supposed to go against traffic.

 Non-runner drivers may wonder why runners often crowd the road shoulder, perhaps even stepping over the line into the actual roadway at times. Quickly, at least 16 reasons come to mind, listed alphabetically.

1. Agricultural equipment – It’s not unusual for rural runners to encounter balers, mowers, planters, plows, sprayers, and other farm tools along the edges of roads that pass farm fields. Short of vaulting over these, joggers have to step sideways to pass them.
2. Broken glass – This is a sticky widget for runners. Who wants to plant a sneaker on someone’s discarded liquor bottle or other glass item?
3. Car parts – Hubcaps, blown tires, and other automotive components clutter roadways. You guessed it: joggers have to steer around them.
4. Chewing gum – Gross! This is a sticky widget for anyone making tracks along a route.
5. Dead stuff – Roadkills are buzzkills for runners. ‘Nuff said.
6. Dog droppings – It’s hard to pick up the pace, if one steps where someone else failed to pick up after pet.
7. Gravel and slippery sand – Got road construction? Navigating such areas in running shoes requires detours, often into the edge of the actual roadway.
8. Ice and snow – Winter runners can bank on it. Snowplows don’t usually clear road shoulders. That puts us right in the path of oncoming drivers, as well as their slushy/salty splashes.
9. Mud – It doesn’t take an unpaved dirt road for a jogger to find mushy mud. And don’t get me started about potholes.
10. Parked cars – This is extra tricky on curvy roads or when drivers park their cars half-in and half-out of driveways. (If I had a nickel …)
11. Pets – Runners appreciate it when pet owners control or otherwise contain their pets. Sometimes pet perimeters extend all the way to the edge of the road. So we might veer away from an excited or seemingly agitated animal.
12. Puddles – Splish-splash, I was taking a run. Wouldn’t you rather step around a puddle than in it? Ask any runner about cranking out miles in soaked sneakers.
13. Ruts – Unkept road shoulders or areas of soft, soggy ground can trip up runners. That puts us in drivers’ path.
14. Tall or thick vegetation – Can you say, “Ticks”? If you’ve ever found an embedded tick after walking or running through unmowed grass or woodsy areas, you get the picture.
15. Toys and bikes – I’m still surprised to see these left along roadways, unless it’s bulk pick-up day.
16. Trash – Whether dumpsters or piles of discards, these send runners sideways to avoid tripping or other surprises.

 Generally, runners do our best to stay out of harm’s way. Most of us are not deliberately trying to interfere with traffic. But sometimes we have to shift our paths a bit.

 Sure, it’s courteous and safer for runners to go in single file, if we’re running along a road. But we still may step into the street, if the shoulder sports hazards. And, of course, runners are supposed to go against traffic, unlike bicyclists and those in/on other wheeled vehicles. It helps when we can see vehicles coming in our direction. But we need drivers to look out for us as well. (Dare I launch into a diatribe about texting and inattentive driving?)

 Maybe that’s why many runners choose to log their miles on trails, rather than roads, whenever possible. Some even stick to walking/biking paths or even sidewalks.

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Have you been caught WALKING again?

 

Cue the blush here.

 OK, I’m totally kidding.  But sometimes it feels like that, when a runner is spotted out walking.

 A non-runner might say something like this:

“I saw you out there yesterday, but you were walking.”

 It’s as if we are expected to maintain an all-out sprint the whole time we are out on the trail or the road or the track in our sneakers.

 

It doesn’t really work that way.

 Even elite marathoners begin their jaunts with warmups and end with cool-downs. These may include giant steps, backward steps, lunges, and butt kicks. But they also include walking – plenty of walking.

 And plenty of fitness fanatics walk miles and miles and miles, burning countless calories without ever breaking into a jog. They’re on-the-move for hours, which is almost harder in some ways than running faster for shorter time spans.

 

Walking may be purposeful.

 It usually is exactly that.

 Walking is a primo plan for beginner runners, but also for those who have run countless races and are still committed to practicing physical fitness (perhaps past their primes). Professional trainers and physical therapists prescribe walking for those who are recovering from injuries or long races.

 Additionally, more than a few runners mix walks into their weeks for cross-training, socialization (with other runners and non-running friends), dog-walking, sightseeing, stress relief, or even phone calls on-the-fly.

 Let’s not judge one another, or ourselves, for slower steps.

 

Runners build one another up – at any pace.

 Mostly, the running community acts like a fellowship of mutual encouragement. We say things like “Your race, your pace,” and “You’re lapping everyone who’s at home on the couch.”

 Sure, runners want to become faster. We want to beat our own personal records, racing the clock more than one another. Some of us even want to win race titles – or at least place in our age brackets.

 But we generally enjoy waving at each other (at the run or the walk). We salute one another for getting out there and cranking out the miles, from 5Ks to ultras. We “like” each other’s online posts. We basically celebrate running, hoping to inspire anyone who’s getting up and trying.

 

So why do we almost apologize for walking?

 We act like we’ve been caught in a crime when another runner catches us walking. We trip up into a trot when we approach race cameras (if we spot them). We jump into a jog when a car comes along, if our routes take us on the roadway. We pick up the pace when another runner (or even a walker) approaches.

 Why are we embarrassed to practice a slower pace?

 

There’s no shame in walking.

 All miles count. And just by stepping out there, we are all burning calories, building endurance, improving our cardio condition, and doing the distance. All that makes us stronger … and yes, faster.

 

Related Items:

·        Long runs: Shared-track slowdowns don't have to be let-downs

·        Long runs: Sometimes ya just gotta walk a bit

·        Mixing it up: Cross training adds spice and fitness

·        Some training runs are simply dreadful

·        Walking works wonders for warmups and workouts

•   What’s the difference between a runner and a jogger?

 

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Long runs: Shared-track slowdowns don't have to be let-downs

OK, I goofed. When I planned my latest double-digit training run, I didn’t double-check what else might be going on along the way. I just geared up and went.

Oops.

 I’d picked a lovely trail that winds around a little lake in a nearby forest preserve. Each lap is about 2.5 miles, so I had to do several loops to make my run ration for the day. That sounded simple enough, right?

I picked out my playlist and loaded my car with salty/healthy run snacks and a cooler of chilled water. My whiz-bang plan was to have these ready and accessible throughout my whole training trip, as that’s one of the hardest things about a non-supported teens-to-30-mile run.

About an hour into this plan, I saw a van pull up to one of the park shelters. A few ladies climbed out and began setting cases of water and boxes of bananas on a picnic table. Next, they opened a box of race bibs. 

Uh-oh.

By the time I looped around again, several cars were pulling into that parking lot. Strollers were unfolding, and folks were congregating ON THE PATHWAY.

“Excuse me,” I said to one mom, as I stepped onto the wet grass to pass. No response.

“What time does the race start?” I asked another, as she backed into me.

I sighed, adjusted my earbud, and continued on my way.

By the next lap, the entire trail was blocked, as the small crowd lined up to start their 5K. There were runners, wheeled teams, jog strollers, and baby buggies. I headed for the nearby road to avoid the pack. Then I traversed the grass again to regain my place on the path.

The next time around, I encountered the race leaders. The front-runner, a mom with a tiny baby and a toddler in a jogging stroller, was flying. She called out a quick greeting before zipping by.

By now, I was halfway through my long run and sort of asleep at the wheel. I swigged my water and kept going.

Rounding a bend, I saw the rest of the race pack, making their way along the walkway that edged the baseball field.

That’s when I became inspired.

Although my knees and foot arches and other stuff already hurt, I saw children, young people, and adults giving it all they had. This wasn’t just any run-of-the-mill 5K.

• I saw a pair of runners pushing an adult man in a racing wheelchair. His grin was miles wide.
• I saw a dad with a maybe-eight-year-old boy on his shoulders. The child had braces on both legs.
• I saw a mom coaxing her reluctant runner daughter to keep going. The girl looked to be about six or seven.
• I saw a mom and dad helping their teen daughter along, each placing an arm under one of her shoulders, as she stumbled on the way.
• I saw a young man with crutches, inching his way along the path.

I found myself calling out to these already-motivated folks.

 “Way to go!”

“You’ve got this!”

 “Great job!”

“All right!”

After about 90 minutes, this special 5K was over. The van had been loaded. And the picnic shelter was empty.

My heart was racing from my own run. But it was a little fuller than it had been when I set out that morning.

Because sometimes an interruption is a pick-me-up, rather than a let-down.

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